Monday Bad, Tuesday Good

***Warning: The following is really boring***

Monday sucked out loud!!! To begin with I didn't sleep well at all Sunday night. Why is it that you can sleep great for days and then all of a sudden have one night that sucks...and it happens to be the night before the day that you have to go out and do lots of working. Add to that being nauseous for some unknown reason. (OK, I guess pregnancy is the reason.) Then it is not only the Monday that we have a meeting but we are doing draws as well, which adds hours onto the time frame of being at work. And despite telling the guys that I am tired and achy and nauseous and we need to do this fast, it doesn't actually work that way. They are so oblivious, not to mention inefficient!

I had a new idea for how to do the draws so that it requires much less time at work. For those who are not familiar with this process of "doing draws" let me explain briefly. Each house that we build has a construction loan and as work is completed invoices come in from all of the different trades (electrician, framer, etc.) I take all the invoices and request money from the bank out of the construction loan to pay the invoices. It sounds simple but each loan has the money broken down into trades. The tricky part comes in when there is not enough money in a trade line to pay the invoice and I have to then pull money from a different trade line. Before doing any of that the boss goes through each invoice and matches it to the bids and makes changes as he sees fit. So, the first step is his and I can't even begin until he has gone through them. Which can be very frustrating, especially when I am sitting around waiting and I go in to find out that he is checking his fantasy football and hasn't even begun yet.

I find it very frustrating because everything I do I can do much faster at home with my own computer. When at work I can access my computer through the computer there. But everything takes twice as long, not to mention is twice as uncomfortable. I think things could be done so much more efficiently and the only reason we do it this way is because it is what the boss is comfortable with. The only reason I need to do anything at work at all is to fax all the many invoices to the banks. So my new plan is to fax all of the invoices, then take everything home, do the draw and then I only have one sheet (the draw request form) to scan and email to the bank.

Unfortunately this Monday one of the bosses had car troubles so we started with the draws instead of the meeting. So, even once I had all the draws from the boss and could fax everything over and could have gone home, I still had to wait for the meeting. Then, the (unorganized) boss, comes in with a tax bill and wants to know why it hasn't been paid yet. He knows he has given it to me before and it should have been paid. Well, anyone in there right mind could take a look at his desk and my desk and know immediately who it is that forgets to do things or misplaces things. He is not great at taking responsibility; except that whenever he wants something done he always says "we" need to do this, as if he is going to take any part it in. I was immediately annoyed and then he walks back in and hands me his vehicle registration without a word. I call him back to ask what exactly he wants me to do with this; to which he replies, "we need to get the vehicle registered and paid." I mean come one...his vehicle registration?!?! The man does nothing for himself.

Add to that as I was going through the mail there is tax notification that the company owes some fine because we didn't submit a certain tax form. I do all the employee taxes, but only because they don't want to pay anyone else and just figure that I can do it. I have no formal education regarding accounting or taxes and after weeks of researching and figuring out how it is done I still only feel semi-confident that I do everything right. So, there is an annual form I didn't realize you were supposed to submit. I will have to call and see what can be done.

To top it all off we went through the finances in the meeting. Interesting that I am concerned at all for my job when the very forms and accounting that they are looking at to know the money situation are generated by me. They wouldn't even know all the bills that need to be paid and what the financial situation was without me. So, they didn't let the foreman go. I understand there reluctance, but they are just causing more problems by delaying the inevitable. We know how we are going to manage for the month of March, but beginning in April I'm not sure how they are going to pay me, let alone all the bills.

Because I am having a hard time and because of their financial situation I thought maybe I should take the next few weeks off before and after the baby is born. But as mentioned before, I'm the one who keeps track of well, everything. That would just create an organizational mess on top of a financial mess. I just want to concentrate on having a baby and being excited for that event. Instead I am completely stressed over work and how our financial situation might change suddenly in the next few months. I am very grateful that we are getting a tax refund that will be a bit of a cushion for whatever happens.

So, after hours of being at work I finally made it home and still needed to do the actual draw requests to submit to the bank. After being at work from 9:00 to 2:00 I worked at home until about 6:00. All I could think was "please don't go into labor today." I didn't. :) Baddaddy was so good to hold me and rip on the guys with me and let me cry and vent. It helped that he said he thinks I am tough. I wanted to know how tough it was when I was bawling my eyes out. He said that I was tough to just get out of bed this morning and go to work at all. And then to put up with everything that happened. Tough or not I hope to not repeat this day ever again.

Tuesday was a completely different story. First of all because I slept. Secondly, because I didn't have to go anywhere. I accomplished so much for work. I just keep feeling like I really need to be on top of things because at any moment it could all change.

I had a realization late Monday night. I was thinking very honestly about my work situation and admitted to myself that I am the one who has changed. All of the things that now frustrate me are not new things. It is only because of my new circumstances that I get frustrated when it wouldn't have really bothered me before. When I was working full time in the office I didn't care how long the Monday meetings took because it was just passing the day; I would participate in the chatting and tangents about the weekend and their lives. I always knew there were inefficiencies, and would try to change what I could; but it is only now, when I don't want to be there at all that I resent them. I want things to be done quickly so I can leave quickly.

And the little things like the vehicle registration...I wouldn't have cared. They pay for my time and while I was in the office it didn't matter what they wanted me to do with that time; whether I thought it was personal or a waste of time. (I think my discomfort and his attitude accusing me of not doing something were the main problem.)

So with a good night's sleep behind me and a new attitude I jumped into working. I accomplished so much, including paying the tax lien and registering his vehicle. And in looking closer at the tax notice I found that the fine would be reversed if I sent the paperwork in. I called because I had already sent it in and was told that they are very behind and not to worry about it. So, all the little things that bugged from yesterday are taken care of and put away.

I am never going to be OK hanging out for an inefficient meeting, but I think after the baby comes and I feel a bit more like myself I will be able to handle it better. Not to mention that I think the meetings will come to an end very quickly and the guys will learn through necessity to be more efficient when they have to share the attention with a crying hungry baby.

After getting all the work done I soaked in a hot bath and enjoyed just relaxing. Then I did the dishes, made jello (finally, a pregnancy craving) and meatloaf and went grocery shopping. It was a productive and yet relaxing day.